


Haikyuu!! tripping over your words, Part 3

by Nautilus_Daixy



Series: Tsukishima x Yamaguchi - tripping over your words [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Tsukishima Kei, Implied Relationships, M/M, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22615876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nautilus_Daixy/pseuds/Nautilus_Daixy
Summary: No matter what he does, the words just don't come out right.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: Tsukishima x Yamaguchi - tripping over your words [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619728
Comments: 3
Kudos: 80





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I worked so hard on this y'all. ToT 
> 
> For my crackhead friend, you know who you are :-)

Yamaguchi took another bite of his pork bun and smiled at Tsukishima. 

Despite the intense practice they had just had, Hinata and Kageyama were still jumping around, full of energy. A bit farther back, the rest of the team members were walking, holding onto their food with one hand and quietly munching. Tanaka and Noya were laughing uproariously, seemingly just as high energy as the setter and middle blocker. Behind them, Daichi had thrown his arm around Sugawara- not that anyone else on the team had noticed. 

The night sky stained the air a cool blue.

“Tsukishima, you shut out like half of my spikes today! It was so cool! I’m glad I don’t have to play against you in real matches!” Hinata yelled, clenching his hands into fists and looking up at the tall blond with big eyes. 

“Thanks,” Tsukishima responded. 

Suddenly, all of the small conversations people had been having fell silent. Hinata canted his head to the side, bewildered.   
“Are you gonna yell at me or something?” Hinata asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice. 

“What? You just gave me a compliment. ”

“I mean, yeah, but I just wasn’t expecting you to answer like that.”  Hinata smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.   
“Would you rather I yelled at you?”

The rest of the team was watching the conversation, looking between each other as if to emphasise its strangeness. Yamaguchi was staring at Tsukishima, trying to read his features. Despite the low light, he could tell Tsukishima’s face was going red. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Tsukishima, are you alright?” asked Yamaguchi. 

“What? Why wouldn't I be?”

By now, most of the group had split up and made their ways to their respective houses. Tsukishima was walking Yamaguchi to his bus stop. 

“I don’t know, you were just acting weird,” answered the pinch server, trying to sound as nice as possible. 

“I try being nice, and you tell me I’m acting weird,” responded Tsukishima, talking faster out of impatience. 

Yamaguchi’s eyes darted over to his friends face, bewildered. Gently, he asked:

“Tsukki, what’s wrong?”

The blond let his gaze drop to the pavement, observing the incomprehensible, shadowy forms of the weeds growing up through the cracks as they passed underneath his feet and out of view. He could feel his friend’s concerned gaze on him and felt a strange sense of comfort. He let the question hang above their heads like a ball waiting to come down. 

“Come on, Tsukki. We’re taking a detour through the park,” decided Yamaguchi, turning on his heels to point himself in the direction of a connecting path. “Whatever it is, you don’t need to hide it from me. I could tell you were uncomfortable all night.”

Yamaguchi had meant the comment to be comforting, but he could see it had twisted Tsukishima’s face into a painful expression. 

“How do make it look so easy?” Tsukishima stopped in his tracks. 

“What?”

Suddenly it clicked. _ So that’s what this is about. _

“How do you just talk and the words come out and they sound so right? How can you just say things and people don’t ask if you’re feeling off? How come the words sound so natural when you say it but sound so wrong when I do? ” Tsukishima’s voice was shaking with frustration. He looked at the groundso the anger wouldn't be directed a his friend. “And you can just accept compliments without it being weird. And you just tell people the things you like about them without thinking about it! How do you do it?” 

Yamaguchi let the air around them settle back down, like sediment at the bottom of an old jar, before answering in a deliberate voice. 

“Do you think no one on the team notices that you care about them?”

Tsukishima looked over, taken by surprise by his friend’s comment. 

“Even if you call them stupid, do you really think people don’t know you’re always the first one to notice when something’s wrong? And you’re really thoughtful, always looking out for them. Like when you offered to practice with Hinata at the training camp, and when you took care of me when I was sick. You don’t need to worry about your friends thinking you’re a cold asshole. I mean, maybe they did at first, but they know better now.”

Tsukishima was looking at his friend, dumbfounded. 

“I mean, maybe I shouldn’t speak for others, but I know you mean a lot to me , and I know you care about me , even if you don’t say it out loud,”  Yamaguchi added. 

There was a long pause. 

“I’m just so tired being awkward,”  Tsukishima softly concluded. 

“Well, I think there’s something to be said about being so comfortable with someone that you don’t need to fill the silence. And when we hang out and I see you’re comfortable around me, that’s what makes me happy. I know you have other ways to show you care.”

Yamaguchi smiled up at his friend, who had no choice but to meet his gaze. The corner of his lips lifted.

“Can we take one more lap around the park?”


	3. Chapter 3

Yamaguchi was ranting about the stars. Tsukishima, enjoying the sound of his friend’s voice, looked up and considered his friend’s made-up constellations.  What a perfect fit, it seemed, that the person he loved listening to had so much to say. 

“I think those ones look more like Hinata spiking than a warrior,” suggested Yamaguchi, pointing to Orion. “And cancer looks less like a crab and more like a raven flying. ” Yamaguchi laughed and massaged the back of his head. “Say, do you think I spend too much time playing volleyball?” Tsukishima smiled. 

“You know, I’ve always wondered why humans can make pictures out of anything,” he continued. “When I was little, I would just stare at the wooden ceiling at my grandparent’s cottage and let my mind turn the lines into shapes. I would do it every night. Looking back, I wonder how much time I wasted just staring up in my bed, noticing how these lines looked like a cat’s face and this one looked like a frog. And it’s the same way we see things in clouds and faces on cars. Why do we do that? Do you think humans are just that lonely?” Yamaguchi was still looking up at the night sky, the stars reflecting like freckles in his eyes. He was about to start his soliloquy once again when cold fingers wrapped themselves around his hand and interlaced themselves effortlessly with his own. Passive, he let his hand be taken into Tsukishima’s, and felt a wave of heat course through his body and up to his cheeks.   
  
Yamaguchi looked at Tsukishima with big eyes, innocence painted on his face. He kept walking. _I didn’t put up much of a fight,_ he thought. Tsukishima’s face was unreadable, concealed by the blue hue of night. Though it was the answer Yamaguchi was always looking for, all he could think of now was more questions. His lips parted, then closed again. 

_It’s rude to interrupt someone in the middle of talking_ _,_ he thought, and walked in silence, hoping Tsukishima wouldn’t see him smiling like a little kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading this, thanks for making it to the end!  
> Should I do a part 4? Let me know, and if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments. Let's keep it wholesome :P


End file.
